Nep potential meter



Jan. 4, 1955 J. F. BOGDAN ETAL NEP POTENTIAL METER Filed Dec. 29, 1953 I ATTORNEYS 8 L m L m w W l M OE m E NR HA OL JG 4 United States Patent 2,698,538 Patented Jan. 4, 1955 [ice NEP PDTENTIAL METER John F. Bogdan and Clarence M. Asbill, In, Raleigh, N. C., assignors to the United States of America as up resented by the Secretary of Agriculture Application December 29, 1953, Serial No. 401,102

1 Claim. (Cl. 73-159) This invention relates to a device for predetermining the tendency of a batch of staple fibers, such as lint cotton, to form small tangled masses of fibers while being processed by conventional yarn manufacturing machinery.

One of the principal problems and hazards of the cotton textile industry is the tendency of certain cottons to form neps or small tangled masses of fibers during the carding and other yarn manufacturing processes. In the sheer types of fabrics, such as lawns, fine broadcloths, etc., the presence of neps, in the yarn from which the material is woven or knitted, will produce a speckled or spotty effect which is very noticeable, and which greatly depreciates or even destroys the value of the material. The neps in a dyed fabric quite frequently take dye in a manner or to a degree quite difierent from the untangled fibers and, thus, produce unsightly effects out of all proportion to their size.

A primary object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for rapidly determining from a relatively small sample how much nepping can be anticipated during the processing of a batch of staple fibers into yarn. A further object is to provide an apparatus which can, within a few minutes, subject a small sample of fibers to mechanical treatments which affect the fibers in substantially the same way they would be affected during processing into sliver at the card.

A preferred embodiment of the apparatus provided by this invention comprises: a series of three cardclothing-covered cylinders arranged in the form of a trian le so that a portion of each cylinder is in a fiber working relationship with a portion of the other two; a means for feeding fibers onto one of the cylinders; a pressure plate along the surface of a cylinder adjacent to the cylinder fed by said feeding means near said point of adiacency; a cooperating arrangement of direction of rotation, direction of card clothing wires and rate of rotation among the said three cylinders such that the cylinder fed by the fiber feeding means rotates much faster and in reverse direction with respect to the other two cvlinders: the cylinder fed by the fiber feeding means and the cylinder fitted with a pressure plate are clothed with forward pointing card clothing wires, and the remaining cylinder is clothed with backward pointing card clothin wires; and a means for supporting and rotating said cylinders.

In general the procedure for predicting nep forming tendencies provided by the apparatus of this invention comprises: ne ping a sample of the fibers by feeding a sheet of the fibers, freed of large tan led masses. onto the wires of a rotating cylinder clothed with forward pointing card clothing wires. advancing the fi ers into contact with a second cv inder, imoa ling the fibers on the wires of a second cylinder which'second cylinder is clothed with backward pointing card clothinfwires and is rotatin in a direction opposite to that in which the first cvlinder rotates, advancing the fibers on said second the same rate as that of said second cylinder',.advancing' the fibers on the third cylinder to' a point at which they are again fed'on'to the wires of said first cylinder, and continuing the sequence of o erations for a predetermined time; collecting the nepped fibers by I( -ting, respectively," the first, second, and third cylinder, in reverse, until most of the fibers have accumulated on the exposed portion of the third cylinder, and lifting the nep fibers ofi of the third cylinder by means of a cloth covered board; and comparing the nepping characteristics of the portion of the so-treated fibers on the cloth covered board with those of fibers which have previously been nepped in the above manner and also by the action of conventional yarn manufacturing machinery.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a schematic showing of an embodiment of the apparatus as viewed from the left side; and

Fig. 2 is a schematic showing of an embodiment of the apparatus as viewed from the right side.

In the drawing, the series of three card-clothingcovered cylinders comprise cylinders 1, 2, and 3 provided with card clothing covers 4, 5, and 6. The means for feeding fibers onto one of the cylinders comprises fluted roll 7 and co-acting feed plate 8 adjacent to cylinder 1. The pressure plate comprises plate 9 along the surface of cylinder 3.

The means for rotating the cylinders comprises: reversible motor 10 coupled by belt 11 to sheave 12 attached to the left end of the shaft of cylinder 1. Gear 13, which is attached to the right end of the shaft of cylinder 1, engages idler gear 14, to which sheave 15 is attached. Belt 16 is driven by sheave 15 to rotate sheaves 17 and 18, which are attached to the right ends of the shafts of cylinders 2 and 3 respectively. Cylinders 2 and 3 are rotated in the opposite direction and at a much lower rate with respect to cylinder 1. Belt 19 is driven by sheave 20 which is attached to the left end of shaft 3 to rotate sheave 21 and fluted feed roll 7 to which sheave 21 is attached.

Pressure plate 9 is mounted and supported in such a way as to press lightly against cylinder 3, especially at the edge nearest the point of adjacency with cylinder 1. The function of the pressure plate is to hold any tufts of cotton in the clothing of cylinder 3 as long as possible. This causes cylinder 1 to draft or attenuate the fiber masses and produces a more uniform distribution of the fibers on the surfaces of all the cylinders.

Cylinders 1, 2, and 3 can suitably be constructed of substantially any conventional fiber working cylinder construction material. The card clothing cylinder covers 4, 5, and 6 each can suitably consist of the same or different fillet or fiat card clothings with the Wires arranged to point in the indicated direction with respect to the rotation of the cylinders. The use of fillet card clothing cloth on all of the cylinders is preferred. The cylinders are preferably mounted to provide the clearances usually provided between card clothing covered fiber working cylinders.

The absolute and relative speeds of the cylinders and the fiber feeding means are correlated with respect to the characteristics of the fiber processing machinery for which the nepping characteristics are to be predetermined. In an embodiment of the apparatus illustrated in the drawing in which cylinders 1, 2, and 3 each had a diameter of 4 /2" and were each covered with fillet card cloth ing and fluted feed roll 7 had a diameter of 2 /2", the use of speeds of 250 R. P. M.s for cylinder 1, 8.3 for cylinders 2 and 3, and 0.75 for roll 7 provided a reproducible prediction of the nepping that would be produced by subjecting lint cotton to the usual processes up to and including carding.

In using the illustrated embodiment of the apparatus to predetermine the nepping of lint cotton, a representative sample of the cotton, a sample weighing in the order of about 25 grains being sufficient, is selected and freed of tangled masses of fibers, for example, by hand carding. The sample is spread as a sheet upon feed plate 8 with the forward edge tucked under fluted roll 7. Motor 10 is tartedto drive the cylinders and the feed roll at the appropriate absolute and relative speeds. The sample is advanced by fluted roll7 to a point at which'it-is picked up by the relatively rapid y rotating cyllndef The cotton is carried by cyiinder 1 past cylinder 3 (due to the directio'rrofthe clothing wire on cylinder 3) and isimpaled in the wire of cylinder 2 at the point of ad acency'with cylinder 1. This'produces a carding action that produces neps. As cylinder 2 is'rotated slowly,

the cotton that adheres to it is carried around to cylinder 3 which strips it from cylinder 2. The cotton on cylinder 3 is pressed into the clothing wire by passage under pressure plate 9 and then stripped off by cylinder 1 for repeated carding and thorough blending. After a predetermined running time, the motor is stopped and reversed for a definite length of time, which causes most of the cotton to accumulate on the upper surface of cylinder 3 between the points of adjacency with cylinders 1 and 2. The machine is then stopped and a cloth covered board, such as a black velvet-covered board, is placed in contact with the upper surface of cylinder 3 and the cotton imbedded in the clothing is lifted out in contact with the cloth-covered board by moving the board slightly in the direction in which the wire clothing is pointed. The more or less neppy web of cotton on the board is then compared visually with photographs of nep standards and the nepping tendency is thereby clearly indicated. In practice, the operator quickly becomes reasonably proficient in evaluating the neps without reference to the 20 standards.

We claim:

An apparatus comprising a series of three card clothing covered cylinders arranged in the form of a triangle so that a portion of each cylinder is in a fiber-working relationship with a portion of the other two; a means for feeding staple fibers onto one of the cylinders; a pressure plate along the surface of a cylinder adjacent to the cylinder fed by said feeding means near said point of adjacency; a cooperating arrangement of direction of rotation, direction of card clothing wires and rate of rotation, among the said three cylinders, such that the cylinder fed by the fiber feeding means rotates much faster and in reverse direction with respect to the other two cylinders, the cylinder fed by the fiber feeding means and the cylinder fitted with a pressure plate being clothed with forward pointing card clothing wires, and the remaining cylinder being clothed with backward pointing card clothing wires; and a means for supporting and rotating said cylinders.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 495,413 Howarth Apr. 11, 1893 1,206,408 Broome Nov. 28, 1916 1,681,605 Zweigle Aug. 21, 1928 

